Topic: nak 100 / 300 capsules

[BusDriver]

please confirm, or not - the capsules (cp1, cp2, cp4) for the nak cm100 and cm300 are identical and interchangeable .....

sorry if this topic has been beaten to death .. i couldn't find info by a search. capsules from either are good candidates for the 'modification" to run from phantom power, yes?

[Hypnocracy]

I've seen CP4's come in two boxes, a silver and black. The silver box stated "CM300's", the Black stated "CM300's and CM100's"

CP4's do not use the attenuator barrel, but, CP1 and CP2 do. The attenuator barrels are different shapes on the two models, not sure about the electronics.

When I purchased my CM100's many moons ago, I was told the CM100-CP4 combo was identical to the CM300-CP4. But, that there were differences when using the other capsules with the two bodies. I assume he knew what he spoke of.

[datbrad]

I can confirm the "CP" capsules are identical for both the CM100 and CM300, having once owned both models and all the caps.

[BusDriver]

... and I was posting way too late on the original .... in addition to the capsules, are the attenuator modules identical and interchangeable? are they equally suited for modification to phantom power? ... 'franken-style'?

[datbrad]

... and I was posting way too late on the original .... in addition to the capsules, are the attenuator modules identical and interchangeable? are they equally suited for modification to phantom power? ... 'franken-style'?

Now if my memory serves correct, I believe the"modules" that the capsules attach to are the actual preamps with the attenuator inside, and the "bodies" are basically a battery compartment with a balanced output circuit to the XLR connector. This points to the idea that the CP4 is the same mic on the CM100 and CM300, since the different modules the CP1, CP2, and CP3 would normally screw on to are left out.

For me, the main functional difference between the CM100 and CM300 was the batteries, easy to source regular AAs for the CM100 versus those funky hard to find batteries for the CM300. Sound wise, I could not really tell a difference between the CM100 and CM300, at least when using the CP4s.

I don't know a thing about any of the mods for these, so hopefully someone will chime in.

[Patrick]

Yes. you can use cp1, 2, and 3 with both modded and unmodded cm100's and cm300's.

The FET for the cp4's is inside the shotgun housing so yes, it screws directly on the battery portion as opposed to on the FET housing portion.  I'm 99% sure that you can use any type of cp4 on either mic, but my cp4s have only been used on my cm300 bodies.

I've found that the 100's have a much higher noise floor than the stock 300's, and the "p48" mod also improves the noise floor of a 300 compared to when it's powered with the Eveready 206 battery.

[ts]

marc kim, aka leegeddy, did my franken mod. i sent him the cm100 barrels instead of the 300's. he had already done some 300 mods and he wanted to see if there was any difference between the two, other than the venting slots. there is a difference and somewhere buried in this site, he explains what he found. or maybe it was explained to me in a pm. unfortunately i do not remember what is is. The only difference I was ever aware of is the spl is 20db higher on the 300's.

i am curious about this. why does the silver CP4 box say for use with CM300's? The silver box was the last production run. Were the 100's discontinued by then?

[SmokinJoe]

I'll just throw this in here, mostly for the benefit of someone doing a search 2 years from now....

The attenuator bodies that came with CM300's have 4 narrow slots, and the ones which came with CM100's have 2 wide slots.  The bodies (where the batteries go) and the attenuator body have different electronics in there in all cases.  I would guess they are optimized for different impedance.   Putting CM100 bodies with CM300 attenutator will screw together just fine, and it will work, but it imparts an odd flavor.  Don't mix and match if you can avoid it.  Been there, done that.